Bald Eagle Recovery in Kentucky

Bald Eagles, found only in North American, give us hope that we can, in fact, save our threatened wildlife. They were put on the Endangered Species List in 1978. In 1782 when this bird became our national symbol, and estimated 100,000 nesting eagles lived in this country. By 1963, with only 487 nesting pairs of bald eagles remaining, the species was in danger of extinction. Loss of habitat, shooting, and DDT poisoning contributed to the near demise of our national symbol. Following enactment of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the Service listed the species in 1978 as endangered throughout the lower 48 states, except in Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin where it was designated as threatened.

What we did to bring the Bald Eagle back:•We banned DDT •We prohibited killing of eagles•We improved water quality in many of our lakes and rivers•We protected nest sites•We restored eagles back to areas where they had been eliminated. Thus, on June 28, 2007, the Service announced the recovery of our nation’s symbol and removal from the list of threatened and endangered species.

Kate Slankhard, avian biologist with The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, takes a count of eagles nesting in Kentucky each year. In 2016, she announced great news. After a slow year for population growth in 2015, bald eagle expansion was back on track in 2016, with 151 nests documented. Twenty new territories (where eagles have not been documented in any previous years) were established or located in 2016. This was more than any years past. The total number of nesting territories documented in Kentucky in 2016 increased 14% from 2015.

Year Eagle Nesting Territories1986 11990 62000 232010 842016 151

Rehabilitating Raptors

Bird rehabilitation is the practice of caring for sick, injured, or orphaned migratory birds with the goal of releasing them back to the wild. But exactly what must rehabbers do to save those sick and injured raptors? Join us for our November 15 meeting at Beargrass Christian Church when Kathy Dennis, volunteer with Raptor Rehabilitation of Ky will show us exactly what has to be done to treat these raptors, both the success cases and the sad cases. She will also bring Amazing Grace, a live Red Tailed Hawk who is one of the best success stories at RROKI.